9 Crimes
by Balanced
Summary: Character studies in the form of 150 word drabbles.


**A/N: **Okay, I have no idea what inspired this, except that I wanted to write something, and I wanted to give Dynamic a break. So I spent pretty much all day writing this. It isn't good, but it feels good to get it out of my system. Please review and let me see that my day was not totally wasted. The title is the song at the top of my iTunes play list.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own House, Fox, or Mustangs. Well, I own my _own_ Mustang, but that's not what we're discussing.

**Summary:** Character studies in the form of 150 word drabbles.

_9 Crimes_

_**Loss**_

"They say I've got a couple of weeks before it gets bad," he tells her. "Let's go somewhere."

Hope surges through her, and she asks, "Where?"

"Anywhere."

So she takes his advice and books a flight to San Francisco. It isn't exotic or anything, but there's sun, a beach, and the promise of laughter.

But then she gets home from visiting with AAA, and sees him collapsed on the floor of their living room.

She drives to the hospital, her hands steady. She later tells Joe about their once-impending trip, and he sighs and encourages her to get some air while they get him settled. She considers asking what kind of wife that makes her, but doesn't.

So she takes the car, and drives to the airport, where she sits and watches the planes take off. She imagines the passengers flying high over the city and away from it all.

---

Friday's been a bad day for House-the doctor has bitten off everyone's heads at least twice. Chase is slightly surprised that the newest fellow, Dr. Jeffers, hasn't burst into tears, what with the way House has been treating the staff.

So, he really shouldn't be surprised when House says to him, "Dr. Emily Foster."

Chase looks up.

"That's the doctor who was supposed to get your position. Consistent 4.0 GPA, intelligent, dedicated, and all her references raved about her. Her sister had dead muscle in her left arm, and when all the other doctors suggested bed rest, Foster diagnosed it for what it was." Chase won't understand until later why House's voice gets darker with every word. "I thought you should know that you don't belong here. And I know it. And I'm not going to forget it if sometimes you don't suck as badly as Jeffers and Wilkinson."

---

"The right side is too high," House says.

Wilson rolls his eyes, and adjusts as recommended. "Better?"

"Worse."

Wilson glares at his friend and steps back to examine it himself. "It's fine," he says.

House shrugs. "It's _your_ place," he says, then takes a seat on the couch. He glances at Wilson, who is peering into a box marked Photos and watches as he removes an album, and brings it to the couch, taking a seat himself.

Wilson flips it open, and stares at the picture at the front, of the two of them. House was laughing, and he was grinning at the person behind the camera. _My dad_, he recalls.

"It's a little weird to have a picture of us at the front of a wedding album," House comments.

"Bonnie took the pages of me and her," Wilson replies. "This was technically the _third_ page."

"If you say so."

---

He's not sure how long he hasn't been writing. He remembers the initial pang he felt when he started ignoring his brother's letters, telling himself that that past didn't fit in with his Fancy New Life. His father told him he understood, and even though he seriously doubted it, he clung to that absolution like a life-preserver. As the years passed, his brother eventually got the hint and gave up.

He knows he should feel guilty or embarrassed at how far he's come-that he got the second chance that his brother wasn't afforded-but he doesn't. He goes to the hospital, puts on his lab coat, runs tests, and works hard at saving lives. If he were the kind to get nostalgic about things, he'd think that his brother might actually be proud of him, and his thoughts would go to a certain inmate fighting against death row.

But he isn't.

---

_**Firsts**_

"He isn't talking," Cuddy says.

He weighs this information with all he knows of his best friend, and shifts his eyes to Stacy's. He's only been back in town for twenty minutes (the amount of time it took him to get from the airport to the hospital) and he doesn't know all the details of what happened. Nevertheless:

"He'll talk to me." Then he brushes past them, and goes to House's bedside.

He doesn't speak immediately when he enters the room. He just watches House's chest rise and fall in a slow breathing pattern, and takes a seat next to the bed.

He's not sure if House has been pretending to be asleep, or just wakes that easily, but the pierce blue eyes open to stare at him.

"I'm sorry," he says softly. "I got back as quickly as I could."

House seems to consider this, then nods. "I know."

---

Her first day with House, she wonders about the importance of all her medical training. Suddenly, all her ideas are moronic and she gets the feeling that everything she does is wrong. She asks Chase if he sees it too, who assures her that she's reading into things: That House is like that with everyone, and she should just learn to accept it.

Nevertheless, she spends a month telling her parents that she isn't sure she can do this, and that she's considering submitting her resume to another hospital. In fact, she gets as far as printing out a copy, and writing down phone numbers of all surrounding medical facilities, but can't actually convince herself to do it. The thing is that as cruel and heartless as he can be, he's always right. Always.

And then one afternoon she suggests, "ITP" and he responds with, "Interesting, Dr. Cameron. Good job."

---

Sometimes, even though she wishes she doesn't, Cuddy doubts her decision to bring House onboard. And the problem, in spite of what everyone seems to think, isn't the attitude. Please. She's known him-or known of him-since college. He's lost the ability to shock her. It's the blatant disobedience that's become the problem. Not the disobedience to her, but, rather, every rule that is established at PPTH.

He won't wear a lab coat, he leaves early or comes in late, and he refuses to turn anything in on time. When she tries to impress upon him the importance of these things, he laughs and walks out, leaving her to wonder who's really in charge.

One morning, though, he drops three months worth of reports on her desk and she's so startled that she's speechless.

"And I didn't even have Cameron do them," he says, halting her budding question. "So, you're welcome."

---

_**Regret**_

Two days after he gets the news, he drives to The Yankee Candle Company and buys forty white votives. He knows that he's cheating a little bit, but the desire inside to do something is too big to fight.

That night he pulls one out, and bows his head in prayer. He should be too ashamed to face God now-the faithful pray "unceasingly"- but he reminds himself that God is not One to kick while he's down. So he prays feverously for his father, and once he starts, he can't stop. He prays for himself, begging for something he can't explain or even understand. He prays for his step-mom, and doesn't know why. This unsettles him, realizing that he isn't in a position to know what his step-mom would need. He promises himself he'll call but when he ends the prayer, he reaches for the phone, but he doesn't dial.

---

She shows up unannounced, and realizes that's her first mistake. Her parents' cars aren't in the driveway, and she sighs in frustration but tells herself not to worry. She's gotten three days off of work for this. There's no real hurry.

So, she returns to the rental, and mentally maps out the city. She's starving, so she figures the first order of business is to get something to eat. She knows there's a restaurant nearby: "David's Burgers" and remembering a solid bacon cheddar burger from her youth, she pulls into the parking lot.

Only, then a jarringly familiar man with short brown hair, and expressive eyes gets out of a red Mustang with a blond woman on his arm. She freezes in place, in a strange limbo between getting out of the car, and staying in. He doesn't miss her as the pair walk by, but he doesn't say anything.

---

They've been fighting for days so when she finally tells him, he can't even bring himself to be surprised. Depressed, yes. But not surprised.

There's something about him, though, that forces him to ask, "Why?"

She meets his eyes with determined ease and says, "Because you couldn't once choose me over him. Not once. Every time he called you were gone, out the door, with barely an explanation, if any. Because sometimes you didn't even call." Her voice falters and a strangled sob escapes her lips. "Because seven nights in a row I made you dinner and had to put the leftovers in the refrigerator when you just didn't show up. And you didn't even notice."

He processes the information and even though he aches to, he can't bring himself to hate her. _How is it_, he wonders, t_hat she's the one that cheated, and I'm the one that's sorry_?

---

House runs into Wilson in the cafeteria, and approaches him as casually as he dares. They haven't spoken since the other day when he'd accused Wilson of having a love affair with a medical assistant and Wilson had gotten so mad, he'd left the room without an explanation. He doesn't feel bad for pissing his friend off, but he feels bad that the comment cost him something.

"Why did you get so mad," he asks, taking a seat across from Wilson. He doesn't even steal anything off the guy's plate.

Wilson glares, but the rage that was radiating off him the other day has clearly dissipated. "Because this time I'm innocent. And in case you didn't realize, you brought it up on what was mine and Julie's anniversary."

Mentally he winces. Low, even for him. "Sorry."

Wilson seems to exhale the breath he's been holding all week and nods. "Okay."

---

_**Friendship**_

It's been over three years since she joined House's team, and yet she's still shocked when Foreman announces he's leaving. She's not sure why, but it never occurred to her that they wouldn't always be the team. She knows there were two before she and Foreman, and many years worth before all three of them, but it seems strange. They work. The guy before Foreman never questioned House about anything. It had been like having two Chases.

She turns over the idea of going to House and demanding that he do whatever it takes to keep Foreman. Of course she realizes that she'd never do it, but it's amusing to wonder how he would react. Would he mock her devotion to her friend, or look at her with those sad eyes that she knows so well?

This is what she's thinking when Foreman approaches her interrupting her thoughts with, "Drinks?"

---

It's after nine before Wilson shows up at House's place. He hadn't been expecting his friend, but doesn't respond with anything sarcastic when he opens the door. He likes the idea of company tonight, and doesn't want to say anything that might send Wilson away.

"How are you," Wilson asks. He steps around House, into the apartment, and goes straight for the fridge. He withdraws two beers and passes one to his friend.

House shrugs. Company, yes. A philosophical discussion about the pros and cons of Foreman leaving, no. "Fine."

Wilson seems to get where he's coming from, because he says, "Did you know what Dr. Williams is sleeping with a janitor? Is anyone ever going to tell her husband?"

"A janitor _and_ a nurse," House corrects, smiling a little. "And to answer your question: No. It's a real tragedy what marriages are turning into."

"You can say that again."


End file.
